Brawling - The More the Merrier

Where was I...oh right. So the gnolls all charge in like the cowards they are, ten against one. Then this elf lady...or maybe she's a half-elf, they all kind of look the same to me, starts singing this song about me (can you believe that, this random lady starts singing about me, I'm like, famous) that rallies the other orcs hanging around to attack the gnolls. Then the goblins passing by think it'd be funny to shoot a few arrows into the fray from the safety of the other side of the street. Dumb as goblins are (well, most are, Stewirk being an exceptional exception) one of them decided to shoot a ogre. As ogre's are even dumber than goblins, he had no clue where that shot came from, so he just attacked the nearest living creature (which happened to be that lady singing about me). The trolls never pass up an opportunity to bash some heads so they jumped in too. Like a spark on a dry day on the Scorching Plains, the entire street exploded into mayhem...it was totally awesome! There must have been like 200 monsters in this brawl making it probably the biggest one I'd been a part of, well except for that one at Hanging Man Tavern that resulted in the entire block burning down...oh and the one last month where I chased that minotaur, Haggir, all the way across Bloodstone and triggered dozens of brawls. Bastard only got away because the dozen guys chasing me finally caught up...can't believe that chamber pot merchant was actually trafficking drugs. Brawling while stoned, everything moving in slow motion...but that's a different story.

Anyway, I was pretty beat up before I had a chance to react but a dog runs up to me and heals me up. Feeling better, I swung my hammer in a great arc that bloodied or killed all of the gnolls surrounding me. Since some giant lady and a metal statue had most of the surviving gnolls pinned down, I charged Liveroil and hit him with everything I had but it barely phased him. Actually, my big power move where I descend on him like a comet of inevitability and bring my hammer around at his head like this while bringing my knee up like that would have totally missed except that elf lady again pegged him with an arrow at just the right moment and distracted him. I was going one-on-one with the gnoll leader when a pack of medusas shows up to put a stop to the fighting. Liveroil takes off running, and boy was I seriously tempted to chase after him, but I was barely hanging on and needed to catch my breath. After that, I figured it would be better to continue this battle another day so I made a strategic retreat around the side of a house to wait for the medusas to move on. The rest of the combatants either fled or were turned to stone.

As soon as the medusas left I returned to the scene to collect my winnings including a magical tattoo from one of the dead ogres. I'd been thinking about getting one lately, but hadn't had the funds to get the one I wanted. Fortuitously, the dead ogre's tattoo was one of the two I was contemplating. That metal guy returned and the two of us went about collecting our winnings from the bodies of the losers. I knew it was only a matter of minutes before scavengers showed up and given that everything is first-come-first-serve in this town if I wanted to collect what those bastard gnolls owed me I had to hurry.

It wasn't long before others from the battle returned. Actually, they were all travelling together and apparently looking for me, being led by a dog who was actually Cyrus! (Funny thing, when I asked about how the hell Cyrus became a dog they all started pointing fingers and blaming each other. There's got to be a good story in there but I'd have to get it another time.) Apparently, they had followed a gnome here by the name of Nym and were looking to hire a local to help them find him and I was the only one they knew, which was a good idea considering that most of them were pretty out of place in this town. But what followed was the oddest proposal for hire I'd ever heard. They wanted to hire me for an equal share of the loot they came across (which was fine by me, I was getting pretty bored with the challenge circles and would have gone with them for the excitement and food in my belly) but then they wanted me to start out by paying them. I sort of figured that they were broke and really needed the money, plus they were friends of Cyrus so I offered 200 gold but they wanted a lot more. I obviously refused, I mean, they came to me to hire me and I'm not exactly wealthy myself. But then the elf lady came up with this very complicated explanation and she put it so eloquently about how they...no wait, I needed to...no, I don't know. Well, it somehow made sense at the time so I paid them a full third of my life's savings, but I couldn't explain it to you now if my life depended on it (I really wish Stewirk was around, this is what I pay him for). Well, it isn't the first time I've been swindled but I have my doubts that I'll get a fair cut of the loot...and they turned Cyrus into a dog. These guys could be trouble.

Financial matters taken care of, I turned my attention to the matter of tracking down this gnome. After tossing about several possibilities, I settled on going to the Bloody Tooth. Barth knows a lot and he hangs out there. Turns out Barth had even met this Nym before. This Nym character has got some big allies, mostly minotaurs and an oni, and also some big enemies, though Barth didn't know any details about them. He often stays in the Labyrinth (maybe I'll find Haggir there too), and may be friends with the minotaur that runs the place. We should definitely try to learn more about his enemies since if we are going after him, they may be able to help.

Before I left, I also asked Barth about the gnoll shaman. Fangren, his name is, and he is most likely staying in Karda. However, I've only got a month to settle the score before he disappears into gnoll territory for a festival. I'll be going after him with or without the others before then. I thanked Barth and tipped him for the info and headed back to the others to share what I'd learned.